REPORTING FROM ISRAEL
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Posted on 11/23/2004 1:27:51 PM PST by Alouette
The capital continued to be Israel's poorest city, with poverty rising to 275,200 residents in 2003, from 265,300 the previous year, according to the annual poverty report released by the National Insurance Institute on Tuesday. The figure is equivalent to more than 41 percent of the city's population.
Some 56,900 households, accounting for 33.2% of Jerusalem families, are classified as living below the poverty line, an increase of 500 families over the 2002 figures. By comparison, 366,000 families were living below the poverty line nationwide (19.3% of Israeli households) in 2003, meaning that Jerusalem's poverty stricken families comprised roughly 15% of the total.
About 142,100 – 53% – of the capital's children were underprivileged, said NII officials.
In a breakdown of other Israeli cities: 21.8% of Beersheba's families were living below the poverty line, followed by Ashdod (17.7%), Haifa (17.5%), and Netanya (17.3%).
According to the latest report 1,427,000 Israelis were classified as living below the poverty line in 2003, 105,000 more, just over 7%, than in 2002. Since 1996 some 700,000 Israelis have joined the ranks of the poor.
Living below the poverty line means that an individual's income is less than NIS 1,736 per month, or NIS 3,680 for a family of three, NIS 4,443 for a family of four, and NIS 5,207 for a family of five.
"There has been a terrible surge in the number of individuals, families, and children who live in poverty. Israel is becoming a poorer nation," NII director-general Yigal Ben-Shalom told journalists at a press conference in Jerusalem on Tuesday.
Based on the latest figures, there are 652,400 – 30.8% – children living below the poverty line in Israel (after transfer payments and taxes), some 35,000 more than in 2002.
Ben-Shalom pointed to a 7.5% slash in NII welfare benefits during 2003 as one of the main factors for sending additional families into poverty.
"Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu must set his sights on the social issues of Israel, and fix the situation of a whole population that's on its back," claimed Ben Shalom.
Treasury officials fired back however, claiming that cutting the numbers of impoverished Israelis could only be achieved by encouraging employment.
"The same years that saw a rise in poverty also had the largest increase in NII welfare benefits," said a Treasury spokesman.
Between 1996 and 2002 NII stipends rose 50% from NIS 30 billion to NIS 45b. while the poverty rate rose from 16% to 18%, the Finance Ministry said in its response.
Meanwhile, Histadrut officials lashed out at Netanyahu and the Treasury.
"Netanyahu is a serial creator of poor people. Whoever does not work is poor, and those who do work are even poorer. Despite his promises, the poor who found work remained poor. This is not the way to battle unemployment," said a Histadrut spokesperson.
Here we have Israelis who are just as poor and desperate. But they're not blowing themselves up in Arab shuks or coffee houses.
REPORTING FROM ISRAEL
WARNING: This is a high volume ping list
That measures poverty at less than $12,500 annually for a family of four.
Here we have Israelis who are just as poor and desperate. But they're not blowing themselves up in Arab shuks or coffee houses.
'Amein.
Jerusalem is Israel's richest city, it's all those un-employable arabs that make it poor......
I was raised in cotten fields in Mississippi in the 50's and 60's. Can't get much poorer than that. Can't say I ever wanted to blow up anyone or especially myself.......
It is difficult for someone who was used to working as professional in an industry that required a lot of education in, let's say Russia or the U.S. to accept a lowly construction job commonly performed by Arabs.
The situation is similar to the U.S. where unemployed former IT professionals refuse to perform jobs that "Americans don't want to do."
I have cleaned toilets and swept floors. I was raised to believe that work is good no matter what job you perform. I have worked my way up from the bottom to electronics engineering technical operations in my company and would have no problem sweeping floors if laid off tomorrow.....
"The same years that saw a rise in poverty also had the largest increase in NII welfare benefits," said a Treasury spokesman."
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I do not think this was a coincidence. I can say with confidence that the poorest areas in Israel are the areas where the most people on welfare live. This pattern is found everywhere.
http://www.neoperspectives.com/summary.htm
But aren't they rich spiritually? "Blessed are the poor..."
are you being sarcastic?
Not being able to provide food/shelter/healthcare to one's family is not a good thing no matter how you look at it.
A productive citizen who lives simply and donates time and money to causes that REALLY help poor people and not impoverish them is commendable.
What percentage of Jerusalem's Jewish poor do you think are ultra-orthodox who eschew any employment and instead choose to study all day and subsist off of charity and social welfare programs?
I would guess that most of them fit this description and would not accept a job if it were offered to them.
I would definitely agree that ultra orthodox make up a substantial amount of the poor people in Jerusalem. They choose to study all day, on top of popping out kids every year. It's ashame.
Well, I don't think it's a shame. I salute them for their complete faith, and for their efforts in creating a level of knowledge of Jewish law unseen in history. I also salute them for staying in Israel and having many children, even as more secular Zionist Jews have left and cheer on Israel from afar.
But I think it's disingenuous for them to whine about a decline in social support from the government, when they have created the problem. Certainly, the ultra-orthodox community in the US has not developed into a "kollel culture" of generations of people who have never had a job.
I know a prominent doctor in Israel who gives presentations at major international conventions in his yarmulke and tzitzit (fringes). He once mentioned that his daughter is upset at him because he has chosen to work for a living, and therefore it will be harder for her to find the husband that she wants. This is just wrong, in my opinion.
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